Croatia and Spain cooperate well in many areas, with €1 billion in trade, but the COVID-19 crisis has disrupted that process, so Prime Ministers Andrej Plenkovic and Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday they would work on intensifying cooperation.

“Croatian-Spanish trade is about €1 billion. We believe that’s good. However, we’ve had certain oscillations during the COVID crisis. Today we talked about how to advance cooperation, how to make our private sectors cooperate as well as possible, notably by utilising funds from the NextGenerationEU instrument,” Plenkovic told the press after meeting with his Spanish counterpart.

Sánchez, the first Spanish prime minister visiting Croatia, said the two countries were trying to advance their relations, the development of which was stopped by the pandemic last year, stressing that EU funds could help them revive their economies.

“A few weeks ago, Croatia joined the cooperation within MED9, nine European Union members states on the Mediterranean, and this forum will serve as a dialogue for Mediterranean countries to advance cooperation in many areas, notably all those key global issues we are faced with, from the fight against illegal migration to climate change, which are especially important for all Mediterranean countries, as well as in many other security and development topics that are important both for north Africa and the eastern Mediterranean,” said Plenkovic.

He also said that Croatia and Spain could exchange experiences in tourism, “this important industry”, and see how, “after this brilliant season that we had”, to prepare for the next one as well as possible.

“Croatia is very active in the World Tourism Organization, which is based in Madrid. We are looking forward to cooperation in that area,” Plenkovic said.

He noted that cooperation in defence and security as well as many operations, notably in the Mediterranean, was also important for the two countries, adding that next year Spain will host a NATO summit.

The two prime ministers also mentioned cooperation on the DONES (DEMO-Oriented Neutron Source) project which, they said, is very important for the future of energy and for reducing greenhouse gases.

“That’s a Croatian-Spanish partnership in nuclear fusion in which the Rudjer Boskovic Institute is participating. It’s an important, strategic project financed with European funds so that we can have inexhaustible and clean energy sources,” said Plenkovic.

Sánchez too welcomed the experimental programme for preserving the environment.

Following a summit with Western Balkan countries in Slovenia over the past two days, the two prime ministers also talked about the situation in Southeast Europe and EU enlargement.

Plenkovic said Sanchez was exceptionally familiar with the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other countries in the region.

“We took this opportunity to talk about how to make it possible for enlargement to go on, how to have, first of all, a stable Bosnia. For us it’s especially important to ensure, through changes to the electoral law, the legitimate representation of Croats as the smallest constituent people in Bosnia’s highest bodies,” Plenkovic said.

According to the Spanish premier, the Western Balkans “should be given the place to which it belongs”. He again called for EU enlargement.

Sánchez also invited Plenkovic to visit Madrid.